Who will be the the First to IPO: Novartis bought in to Intellia (UC, Berkeley) as well as Caribou (UC, Berkeley) vs Editas (MIT)??

Who will be the the First to IPO: Novartis bought in to Intellia (UC, Berkeley) as well as Caribou (UC, Berkeley) vs Editas (MIT)??

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

CARIBOU BioSciences

Caribou Bio was founded in 2011 by Jennifer Doudna, Rachel Haurwitz, Martin Jinek and James Berger. The core technologies were born out of research carried out in the Doudna Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. Key research programs at Caribou focus on further development of Cas9 and CRISPR technologies with improved genome engineering activity. Our mission is to enable any genome to be modified at any site in any way.

Caribou Bio forms strategic alliances with companies in the research, therapeutics, agriculture, and industrial bio fields. We provide our partners and customers with technology-based solutions for new and improved products. For further information about solutions we can provide for your company

Intellia

Intellia has a platform and technology development partnership with Caribou Biosciences, which includes an exclusive license from Caribou for human therapeutic use of CRISPR/Cas9 and access to its intellectual property. Caribou Biosciences develops technology-based solutions for cellular engineering and analysis based on CRISPR/Cas9 biology. The core of Caribou’s extensive CRISPR technologies IP portfolio is an exclusive license to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 research conducted by the Doudna Lab at the University of California Berkeley, and its collaborators. Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., a co-founder of Caribou and an advisor to Intellia, was named by TIME magazine in 2015 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for her discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technique.

Intellia

MISSION

Develop the most advanced gene-based therapies to positively transform the lives of people living with severe and life-threatening diseases.

VISION

Be the leading provider of proprietary gene editing based therapeutic products that cure diseases with significant unmet medical need.

OVERVIEW

Intellia is a leading gene editing company focused on the development of proprietary, potentially curative therapeutics utilizing a recently developed biological tool known as the CRISPR/Cas9 system. We believe that the CRISPR/Cas9 technology has the potential to transform medicine by permanently editing diseased genes in the human body through a single treatment course. We intend to leverage our leading scientific expertise, clinical development experience and intellectual property position to unlock broad therapeutic applications of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and develop a potential new drug class.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that MIT Technology Review calls “the biggest biotech discovery of the century.” It has been the subject of an unprecedented amount of scientific research over the past two years, as evidenced by more than 1,500 publications and 40 proof-of-concept publications covering more than 20 potential indications. The technology’s ability to remove, replace or repair abnormal DNAin vivo ex vivo with previously unattainable precision provides the fundamental mechanism to develop cures for hundreds of severe and life-threatening genetic-based diseases.

The company’s mission is to translate its genome editing technology into a novel class of human therapeutics that enable precise and corrective molecular modification to treat the underlying cause of a broad range of diseases at the genetic level. The company has generated substantial patent filings and has access to intellectual property covering foundational genome editing technologies, as well as essential advancements and enablements that will uniquely allow the company to translate early findings into viable human therapeutic products.

Editas was founded in 2013 with $43 million in Series A venture capital financing led by leading health care venture capital firms Flagship Ventures, Polaris Partners and Third Rock Ventures with participation from Partners Innovation Fund.

Editas Medicine’s academic founders are world leaders in the fields of genome editing, protein engineering, and molecular and structural biology, with specific expertise in CRISPR/Cas9 and TALENs technologies.

CRISPR player Intellia looks IPO-ready after $70M round

Late last year, Atlas Venture joined hands with Novartis ($NVS) to launch gene-editing upstart Intellia and then swiftly followed up with a formal alliance to use CRISPR/Cas9 tech to fashion a new wave of therapeutics. Now, just 8 months after the pact, Intellia has gone back to the well, drawing up $70 million in cash from a group which includes some active crossover investors that have been instrumental in shepherding a flock of biotechs into the busy IPO market.

OrbiMed HealthCare Fund Management led the round, with help from Fidelity Management and Research Company, Janus Capital Management, Foresite Capital, Sectoral Asset Management, EcoR1 Capital and other unidentified leading investors. Founding investor Atlas Venture and Novartis also pitched in.

There are some things we do know about Intellia. Novartis bought in to Intellia–as well as Caribou, which out-licensed some pioneering CRISPR tech created by Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley–with a clear interest in tapping the science for its ambitious CAR-T work reengineering T cells into cancer weapons. John Leonard was wooed in from the Big Pharma world, after a stint in charge of R&D at AbbVie ($ABBV). And gene editing–deleting, repairing and inserting genetic information to correct an ailment–has what is widely viewed as a potent future in devising a new generation of potential cures.

“CRISPR/Cas9 technology has potential to transform medicine by addressing previously untreatable genetic targets and serving as the basis for new and better therapies,” said Leonard in a statement. “This novel technology could potentially eliminate many severely disabling and life-threatening diseases for patients.”

But after the Big Vision, detailed insights into the company’s plans can be hard to glean. Asked about the apparent likelihood of an IPO in the offing, CEO Nessan Bermingham declined comment.

Specific therapeutic programs? Not disclosed.

Timelines for getting into the clinic? That would be premature, says the CEO.

For a new, preclinical technology with a disputed provenance that pits Doudna and her CRISPR colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier in a challenge focused on patents held by rival Editas, which just raised its own $120 million crossover round, discretion appears to be the better part of valor in laying the foundation for a new company.

In the absence of any insights from Intellia, Editas would seem to be the closest to the clinic now. And all of the pioneers have enjoyed raising some jaw-dropping sums over the past year.

In the meantime, Bermingham says that a group of fewer than 40 staffers continues to grow. Just don’t ask them what they’re working on.